Sturgis and Cupcakes

Aunt Cindy sent Sage her first Sturgis T-shirt and a cool shirt for Jeramy and a necklace for me, home with Jeramy's mom who was in South Dakota visiting and helping Cindy with her radiation therapy. We decided to wear them all to cousin Hailey's 9th birthday party, where Sage loved the special cupcake that cousin Hailey made especially for Sage.

I have also been able finally to put all of her hair in a pony tail. Can you believe that my baby is 18 months old today? We bought her her first potty chair, one that she can sit on, goes onto the toilet, and then is a stepping stool, but I willnot be posting these pictures on the internet, a la Jon and Kate. I resisted the slot machine and noisemaker potty's thinking it might scare the crap out of her (which I know is the point) but it had too many distractions. For now we are just letting her sit with us when we go to the bathroom with her diaper on, and everytime she sits with us. I think after my surgery when I can be consitent with her, I will let her try it at her own pace. I have armed myself with stickers, but I am conflicted about the whole "reward" thing when she finally does start going, because I don't want that to be the reason for her going...but we will see, it will be a learning process for all of us.

Also, I bought the Jessica Seinfeld book on how to deceptively fool your kid into eating healthy food, and today I modified one of her recipies and Sage ate all of it. I used chocolate chip pancakes something I knew she would eat, added purreed butternut squash and apples and a bunch of cinnamon. I added some jam and she ate the whole thing! So now I keep looking for ways to add vegi's and fruit secretly to food I know she will eat. Not quite ready for the intense recipies in the book, but it has given me some ideas. Thanks Becky...oh by the way I found this book at an outlet store for $7 so that was a bonus too!

Jon and Kate/Andy and Carol/ Vaca Pictures

So is anyone surprised that this "reality" couple is getting divorced? I will admit I loved this show in the beginning because it truly was reality TV, and I would learn some of my parenting ideas from watching the show, and sometimes cringed when I would speak to Jeramy like Kate ALWAYS does to Jon. In some respect I can understand now that I have a kid, that the Mommy is usally the bad guy, but in light of the whole spanking incident lately, in which I am against (at least for now, who knows with this Toddler Tude I've been getting lately from Sage), it seems she did get a bum wrap there. HOWEVER, when you start putting your family and your marriage on the back burner to become famous you stop becoming a mother, you deserve everything that people throw at you. She says she does it to provide for her family but that is a bunch of crap. People with more kids and less money do it everyday. And getting hairplugs, tummy tucks, free trips everywhere, and $75,000 an episode to buy their $1.1 million house, and the divorce assests being around 15 million the term "Reality" got lost along time ago. You want to see reality, come to my messy house,where mom hasn't taken a shower today, and haven't done laundry. Plus can you imagine Collin when he is in highschool and everyone is teasing him for watching him potty train on national television. I heard they have 40 more shows this season, so they are going to subject their kids not only to a divorce, but do so infront of millions of people.
Recently in Seaside I saw a woman wearing a shirt that said "Free Kate" I wanted to go over there and slap her across the face. I think the kids should go to Jon because he seems to be the only one that truly cares about the best interest of his kids and would walk away from the fame in a heart beat, out of the two of them. Every picture you see of Kate she is on her cell phone at the spa....um hello does any other mom out there remember the last time they were at he spa? I certainly can't. Everything is being blamed on Jon's infadelity, but in the world of papparazi you can make any picture look like something other than what it is, wheter he did or not, do you blame the poor guy..I am proud of him for finally standing up for himself! For the sake of these children I am boycotting the show, nobody should have to go through a divorce on national TV.

You got 3 posts for the price of 1 don't forget to look at the 2 posts below one on Andy's site (I will get her to invite everyone because I guess you have to do that to see the site, and then one of our vacation. Check out the video of us trying to feed Sage, I told you, it was a battle! I bought the book Becky recommended, so we will see, wish me luck!)

Andy, Carol and Kids Blog

Hurray, Carol is joining us in the blogging world! I told her it is so much easier than explaining over and over the newest stuff to everyone. So for all of you who have been asking info on the newest Holman, now you can follow along with her blog. I have her site posted on my favorites, but you have to become a member.
I love this picture of Andy (who recently became a surveyor himself) and Floyd. I told Carol, "He is a Holman for sure now!" Out of all the Holman's and spouses there are 7 of us who have worked in the surveying field (Ashley and I in the office, me working with Jeff Pantier.) The other funny thing is that out of all the Holman boys (and Jeramy) there are more boats in the family than there are guys since everyone seems to have multiples. Wonder when Floyd will get his first boat. Alexandria caught like a 60 pound Halibut that was as big as she was, so I don't give it long before Floyd is the avid fisherman himself. So stop by their site and see all the latest on the newest Holman! Oh and check out more pictures from our trip below....

One Vacation Down, One More to Go!

Cannon Beach

On the train with Mom and in the pool with Dad

She loves her "Patti-Cake" Grandpa

So we concluded our weeklong stay at Seaside (Thanks Mom and Dad) Jeramy caught the only keeper (see below) and we clam dug the biggest minus tides, but the digging was hard and we only limited the first day. The second day I went out and only came back in with 4. One was the size of my pinky...lol..hardly worth the work. Sage had fun, but came back with a major case of "Toddler Tude". She did a TON of walking. One day she walked all of Cannon Beach, the whole hotel, and to the ocean and back. We built her an alligator on the sand that she thought was pretty cool. She went swimming with Grandma and gave hugs and shared popcycles with "Patti-Cake Grandpa" I am going to try and post a video so you can see just how difficult she is to feed. I did buy Jessica Seinfeld's cookbook (thanks Becky) to give a try. There is also a video of Sage down at the beach stoming in the mud, since Mom usually doesn't let her stomp around in mud she as totally amazed by it, guess that is what Daddy's are for. There is also a video of her screaming "DAAAAADDDDD" she apparently does this whenever she is mad now. lol, hey at least she isn't screaming MOOOOMMMMMMM! So instead of unpacking for my WOW project, I am going to stay packed for our trip to Prosser. How's that for hating to unpack!

Update: Half Way Through Our Vacation

This is our 2nd time at the seals and she still HATED them!

Uncle Lucas

Uncle Saggagi (AKA Scott) Holding "Sa-ge-y Bottoms" (AKA Sage)

Sage and her window

Uncle Dan's keeper the week before we got there

Jeramy's Huge Keeper! Caught on Uncle Dan's Boat

We are half way through our vacation here in Seaside (we leave Friday). Over the first weekend Hettie and Scott and Lucas and Tamera joined us and Jeramy's friend Dewayne. On the first day Jeramy and Dewayne fished with Uncle Dan and got a few shakers and Jeramy got a 59 inch (total length) keeper, which has been the only one so far. Yesterday, Dad, me and Jeramy went and got our limits on razor clams. I was suppose to go today while Dad and Jeramy fished but I overslept, so I guess I have to go out tomorrow, the tide is lower and the time is later! Sage is having a blast, in fact she cries and screams when she has to come back into the room from being outside. She perches herself up on the window and looks out at the pool and the beach. We have taken her on the merry go round and train twice, and to the aquarium to feed the seals...and she HATED it as you can see in the pictures. Today we went down to the beach and made sandcastles. Jeramy and I played more in the sand than Sage did as she was chasing Seaguls. We attempted to make her an alligator, and let her ride on it. These are pictures Mom took, I will do more when we get home with the ones I took, just thought I would give a little update on how much fun we are having at the beach!

My Cousin Becky is hosting another Within One Week. Mine is going to be a little unusual. We are going on our annual week long Sturgeon fishing trip with my parents. Last year the fishing was aweful, the year before I was 2 months pregnant and the fishing was great (we caught 30+) but I had to hop into Uncle Dave's boat back to shore because of my motion/morning sickness. The year before I was pregnant, Jeramy caught a 7 foot Sturgeon which of course was too big to keep. So I am hoping that we all do well. It is really fun because sometimes our boat, Uncle Dan's boat, Uncle Dave's boat, and Andy's boat are all anchored up around each other and cheering each other on. These picture were from 5 or 6 years ago on one of our first trips.

But my main goal is to succesfully unpack from our trip upon our return. I am HORRIBLE at unpacking once back from vacation, especially a week long one. So my goal is to have everything cleaned and put away when we get home!

Recent Pictures of Sage

Here are some recent pictures of Sage over at my Mom and Dad's house. As you can see she has just as much stuff there as we do here. She even has her very own Dora Backpack. She is also playing the piano and reading the very music book I used when I was a little girl. She is quite the spoiled little girl, guess that is what happens when the only child has an only child/grandchild.

A Couple More Awesome Deals

We got another cool score. We got this play structure at the same place we got the slide toy listed below. It was only $35 and I think new they are like over $300. So between her (2) play houses, tug boat, 2 slides, a swing and blow up play house, and her tent/teepee/tunnel thing, I don't think I have paid more than $35 on them. I can't imagine paying $500 plus for some of this stuff, so I am loving the deals I am finding, plus it entertains Sage which is well worth the money spent. My cousin Emily laughs because she says she envisions our house looking like a McDonalds play yard. It is true that these things are taking over most of our house...lol....luckily it all fits in her living room/playroom and out on our big deck for now. Come winter, we may need to move them all inside, then we are in trouble!

PS. The guy said he had like 60 inquiries about the slide below, and he picked me because of my grammer and lack of spelling errors in my email. Guess it pays to be obsessive about proof reading. lol

New Garage Sale Scores!!

Grease Lightning Jacket :o)

Free carseat, you can use rear facing and forward facing

It is an evenflo and very comfy! Not bad for free!

I just got an email, and WE GOT IT... WE GOT IT for $20, plus they have another outside toy too they said we could buy. We are going to go pick up tomorrow.I AM SO HAPPY!!

Plus I got one of those child locaters/trackers for $20

So I totally scored this weekend. For $20 I got Sage her new inside playhouse that has balls on it. It is about as long as my car and I almost passed out blowing it up..lol.., I got her a full kitchen set from ikea to go with the kitchen my parents bought her that is over at their house. I got her a Dora throne chair that she is sitting in, plus another Dora couch. I also got her a jumpy ball and brand new Robeez in her 18-24 month size still in the bag, plus some other new shoes. I also got her tons of cute outfits including the jacket I have posted. She reminds me of Olivia Newton John in Grease. I also got her 2 Backyardigans and a Dora DVD. She even got a Dora Backpack that is just her size. She isn't totally into Dora yet like she is the Backyardigans, Wonderpets, and Jacks Big Music show, but I am sure she will love Dora soon. She also got a ton of clothes, including a Ralph Lauren jacket. I also got a free convertable car seat so some babies can sit backwards and then turn to go forward. I got this for free! It is in awesome condition, and I am going to let Andrea use it for when she watches Carter. I couldn't believe that I got ALL of this stuff for under $20. There is a playhouse slide that I really really want on Craigslist (see pictures)....they only want $20 bucks for it, so cross your fingers for me that I will get it (nevermind, we got it, despite a ton of phone calls the guy said) ! We are going to make some other rounds tomorrow. There is a garage sale that is only selling outdoor baby toys..hopefully we will find something good! I love Garage Saling, it is what Sage and I do on Friday's to kill time...it just so happens that I cleaned house today!